Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Stingy Tim

Starting pitcher:
JC Parsons

I don't care how poorly we played: 12 LOB, 1 for 11 RISP, a couple embarrassing mental mistakes and TWO coach ejections (actually those were well played). We won. A wild day game, 4-2 in 10 innings over the blue goo. Crazy shit was happening. I swear the umps were on drugs. There was even a Panda induced bench clearing non-incident. Sure, Tim deserved the decision but getting the "W" was all that matters. A huge win considering it comes right before the longest road trip of the year. I'll leave the announcers to broil the umps. I want to talk...

About Tim: Our Ace has never lost to the doggers and he wasn't going to let it happen today. On his 120th pitch, with 2 outs and 2 strikes, the best scum hitter drove in the tying run and denied Tim #13 again. That was the FOURTH HIT he had yielded - one of those was an infield hit and another was a blown call! The guy gives up baserunners like Bengie draws walks. He ended with 8.2 innings, 2 runs, 7 strikeouts and 1 walk. Somehow he lowered his ERA to the league leading 2.19. Don't forget the league leading 205 strikeouts. Its easy to call Uribe the hero, but we all know who saved the day.

Tim Trivia Time: (This is a toughie. I'd be impressed if you know without looking it up)

Born in Mooresville, Indiana, Rusie was 17 when he made his major league debut with the National League Indianapolis Hoosiers in 1889 and posted a 12-10 record. Indianapolis disbanded at the conclusion of the season and Rusie was transferred to the New York Giants.

Rusie would remain with New York until 1900. In 1890, Rusie was the National League leader in strikeouts with a career-best 341. Although he punched out a lot of batters, he also gave up a lot of walks. His 266 walks also led the league and Rusie finished that year with a losing record, 29-34.

From 1891–1894, Rusie was the best pitcher in baseball, winning at least 30 games in each of those seasons. In 1891, Rusie went 33-20, leading the league in strikeouts (337) and shutouts (6). In 1892, his performance dipped a bit, breaking out even with a 31-31 record.

With the pitching area being moved back in 1893, Rusie’s strikeout total dropped from 288 to 208. Still he was league leader. The 1893 campaign was a truly extraordinary one for Amos Rusie. He had 50 complete games out of 52 starts and went 33-21.

In 1894, Rusie won pitching’s triple crown. He led the league in wins, going 36-13, strikeouts with 195, and a league best ERA of 2.78 (especially spectacular considering the league average that year was 5.32). After the conclusion of the 1894 regular season, a Pittsburgh sportsman named William C. Temple sponsored a trophy for the winner between the regular season 1st and 2nd place teams in the National League. The runner-up Giants swept the Baltimore Orioles, who featured Hall of Famers John McGraw and Wilbert Robinson, 4-0. Amos Rusie was virtually untouchable in the Temple Cup, giving up only one earned run while winning two complete games and compiling a 0.50 ERA; if that was not enough, he even batted .429. Amos Rusie’s win total that year was fourth best since the modern pitching distance of 60’-6” was established.(from Wikipedia)

The games notes had "Ruthie" I thought, interesting...but that's the guy. He is the last pitcher to strikeout 300+ batters as a Giant (1892, 334). Tim is on track to duplicate that amazing feat with 10 more starts and averaging 10+ K/9. Hard to believe he could keep it up (last couple outings have been less than average) but it is certainly possible.